final final prep, rain, no socks, and other matters

Hard to believe I'm leaving this Friday (barring some horrific circumstance at work), but yes, Poison Girls, my ass will soon be on (at?) the east coast. There's very little for me to prep, so most of it will be done early Friday morning. I'm taking only a small backpack with me, so I'm traveling light. As I've said before, the entire east coast is covered with civilization, so even though I have a planned itinerary, I don't necessarily have to follow it all that rigorously. I can stop anywhere, anytime. In fact, as I look at Naver Map again, I'm discovering there are motels very close to the pensions I've selected for my lodging. Since I prefer motels (where you don't have to call ahead to reserve a room), I'll likely be switching a lot of my pensions to motels over the course of the walk.

It's going to be a rainy start to the walk. A typhoon, Chantu, is heading toward South Korea as I write this, and it'll make landfall by Friday. I've been checking the weather for Gangneung all week, and the prediction of rain on the east coast for the weekend has not changed. Right now, Weather.com is showing rain in Gangneung for both Friday and Saturday. A wet beginning. Luckily, I'll have my poncho. Under which I will sweat, so I'll end up wet, anyway (I call this the "raingear paradox").

In other news, I've been breaking in my new walking shoes, which feel wonderful, and lately, I've been walking everywhere without socks which, it turns out, feels even better. So I'm thinking of hiking without socks, but I'll bring a pair of socks with me just in case something goes wrong.

Aside from all that, I'm looking forward to this hike. I regret not being able to go out and do more reconnoitering, but, you know, I had a stroke, which threw a monkey wrench into the works over the past few months. On the bright side, this means that, except for the first two days of the hike, the route will be totally new to me, which means there's plenty to discover.

More soon.